Ndèye Aïssatou Mbaye, storyteller of West African tastes and culinary history

Ndeye Aïssatou Mbaye and her pestle. @ Aistoucuisine

By: Clémence Denavit Follow

The tale, the tradition and the stories, the Senegalese Ndèye Aïssatou Mbaye carries them in her and in her family name. The stories are those of flavors from Africa, products, dishes. A heritage that she shares, transmits and therefore preserves on social networks, her blog, with flawless energy.

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Her voice is soft, but strong and carries far. Of these voices that need only be heard to understand: the smile is there, the attention, the benevolence, the determination above all. Two very different experiences have made the young woman, the blogger, writer that she is today. Dishes offered for the end of the course ... thiakry and pastels, and guests tasting only what they think they recognize, and sulking the rest. And then a book, a study published in 1998 "  Consume local every day  ", accompanied by recipes from Senegalese women who ensure the processing of local products: a revelation for Aïssatou Mbaye, an awareness, a confirmation: "  We have everything in Africa, everything here, locally ! Flours of cowpea, millet, treasures that we ignore! Why don't we know ? Why this loss ? Is it because we haven't transcribed these stories enough, not talked enough about these foods ? Sorghum, for example, my mother never told me you could pop it like corn. She knew it, but would never have thought of telling me if I hadn't asked her the question : this transmission, this knowledge, that's what I'm working for.  ”She does it well: his blog Aïstou cuisine is lively, modern, multigenerational, on Instagram on account exceeds 20,000 subscribers, and 50,000 subscribers on Facebook.

Onion sauce. @ Aïstoucuisine

To be proud of its roots
To make discover, share, enhance African products, the culinary heritage in its diversity: one cannot sum up African gastronomy to the mafe or to the yassa, it is so rich, by its products, its traditions, its secrets ! Urbanization has changed our way of life, moving kitchens away from the fields, a lot of knowledge has been lost along the way, the time of transmission, with them. And when the elders will no longer be there to tell us about these traditions and these riches? Aïssatou launches and publishes, on behalf of authors and after a successful crowdfunding campaign, her first book "  Sub-Saharan flavors, treasures and recipes of West Africa  ", awarded this year in the category of first books by the World Gourmand Awards, an international cookbook award.

Cover of the book "Sub-Saharan flavors, treasures and recipes of West Africa". Photographs by Nathalie Merlet.

Revolutionary
When Senegal wins the couscous world championship in 2019, North Africa suffocates and Aïssatou rebels on her blog: must you have a short memory for having already forgotten Senegalese couscous  ! Couscous from the Sahel, with millet semolina? When Dakar panics seeing itself deprived of bread at the start of confinement to prevent the spread of the virus, it responds with finesse and smiles, reminding on its blog and forcefully recipes, that it was not that long ago, millet was king of the shared family breakfast ! She is committed, highlighting the work of the women who produce and process Fonio: a superfood if any, good for the soil, the body, simply tasty! Ndeye Aïssatou Mbaye never teaches lessons, she gives things to see differently, intelligently, fully assumes her delicacy, her taste for fried foods and donuts,  widely shared internationally by the way! She assumes and transmits, air of nothing, simply blows us that "  The kitchen is a reflection of the society that carries it. It sometimes resists, often mixes and reinvents itself to stay over time . "

To follow Aïssatou
→  On facebook
On Instagram

His book: Ndèye Aïssatou Mbaye: Sub-Saharan flavors, treasures and recipes from West Africa . Photographs by Nathalie Merlet.

To go further
Yolélé, recipes from Senegal, from Pierre Thiam
Fonio, from Pierre Thiam
Tastes of Africa,  from Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet, Mango
Mon imprécis de éditions , by Nathalie Ngoum
Current cuisine from black Africa, d 'Alexandre bella Ola and Joëlle Cuvilliez, First Les gourmand Awards editions

Musical programming
Tajabone, by Ismaël Lo
Gombo sauce, by Manu Dibango.

RECIPES:

Cake Dougoup (millet)

Cake Dougoup. @ Aistoucuisine

Ingredients
200 g millet flour / 250 g soft butter / 2 ripe bananas / 250 g caster sugar / 6 eggs / 5 cl milk / 1 sachet of yeast / 2 pinches of nutmeg

Preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 200 ° C.

2. Mix the butter with the sugar and whisk together until you get a smooth cream.

3. Add the two ripe bananas and mash them with a fork.

4. Gradually add the lightly beaten eggs to prevent the dough from graining, mixing gently.

5. Gently add the millet flour sifted with baking powder. Add the milk. Mix everything well.

6. Pour the dough into a buttered and floured mold up to two thirds of its height.

7. Bake at 160 ° C for 45 min (th 5-6).

8. When the cake is sufficiently colored, prick it in the center using a sharp knife: if the blade comes out clean and dry, the cake is baked; if not, continue cooking for a few minutes.

9. Unmold the cake. Let cool.

My grandmother's veal soup

My grandmother's soup. @ Aistoucuisine

Ingredients
750 g to 1 kg of veal (with or without bone) / 1 large onion / 1 leek / 2 carrots / 1 turnip / 3 potatoes / 1 bay leaf / A handful of coriander / 5 cloves of garlic / a half of bell pepper, salt, pepper.

Preparation
1. Wash your meat and cut it into medium-sized cubes.

2. Using a blender / pestle, mix / pound the garlic, onion (peeled and cut beforehand), the pepper and the coriander.

3. Wash the leeks and cut them. Peel the carrots, potatoes and turnip. Cut the carrots and turnip into slices and cut the potatoes into 4. Reserve the cut vegetables in a container filled with water to avoid oxidation.

4. In a hot pot, put water (about 2 l) and the pieces of meat, then salt.

5. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour.

6. After 1 hour of cooking, add the onion mixture, the vegetables and a bay leaf.

7. Season with pepper. Adjust the salt.

8. After a few minutes of cooking over high heat, reduce, cover and simmer over very low heat for 1 h 30 or even 2 hours.

9. Serve hot with bread.

Tip:
My grandmother's tip for a smooth soup is to mash a few potatoes with a ladle before serving.

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